Welcome to the second of my monthly blog posts written to keep in touch with my readers. It’s been lovely to receive positive feedback from the first one which I posted last month.
Thanks to all of you who have joined my reader’s keep in touch list, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the free short story collection ‘How to Get Away with Murder,’ which you’ll have received a link for upon joining.
And an even bigger thank you if you’ve joined my Advance Reader Team. There’s still time to join ahead of me sending out advance copies of ‘The Last Cuckoo’ in around two weeks from now.
Click here if you’re interested in joining.
You will have the chance to read my novels and have input into their final stages two months before release, and I will then give you a 99p e-book link on launch day as well as entering you into a draw for a fabulous reader goody bag.
2020 is going to be an exciting year; I have The Last Cuckoo coming out on 4th March, The Man Behind Closed Doors on 5th June and Left Hanging in November. All three novels are nearly ready but I’m just holding off until after my official name change on 14th February when I get married and become Mrs Frankland.
I’m over the moon that you, my ‘readers-to-be,’ will be joining me on this journey and I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.
As we approach the end of 2019, it’s a great time to be thinking ahead. Back in 2013, I wrote myself A Living Bucket List (click to read the poetic version of it.) and have spent the last two years ticking some of the items off.
The year end is a great time to write one for yourselves, you could include any or all the following:
- Places you’d like to visit, or revisit.
- Things you’d love to achieve.
- Activities you want to try.
- Something you’d like to experience.
- An item you’ve always coveted for yourself, etc, etc.
Because I’ve already written my personal one (although I will be writing another one at some point,) I’ve given below my Living Bucket List as a writer which I thought I’d share with you.
I hope you’ll share yours with me too. Post into the comments below or drop me an email.
- Get into Amazon Top 20 ranking in the crime fiction category.
- Own a waterside writing ‘bolt hole,’ either on the Northumberland Coast or in the Lake District.
- Achieve one hundred positive reviews on my memoir Don’t Call me Mum! and my novel, The Last Cuckoo.
- Be approached by Netflix, Amazon Prime or similar, wanting to turn one of my novels into a crime drama or movie.
- Write a poem inspired by the Northern Lights in Iceland.
- Write my memoir ‘Care Home to Millionaire.’ (This WILL be a true story!)
- Enjoy a week-long writing retreat in the French riviera.
- Write a poetry book which brings the beauty of Yorkshire to life; have an artist offer to illustrate it and a musician offer to put music behind it for audio.
- Spend some time is Australia (Purely for research purposes!) to gain the backdrop and setting for a novel.
I’ve three years or so to get them all ticked off! I’m nearly forty seven now so I’ll be fifty by then.
I can’t wait to hear your lists too. The act of committing our goals and dreams to paper often gives them far more chance of being achieved.
With best wishes, Maria
The second edition of ‘Don’t Call me Mum’ will be available from January. (exact date tbc.) It’s been re-edited and has a lovely new cover on it (Darran Holmes – Illustrator.) Here’s a preview: